Spanish Speaking Miami

Many stores, including super markets, grocery stores, retail clothing stores, bakeries, conduct business in Spanish. It appears that English is really a second language because no one uses it. School children walk to school and converse with each other in Spanish. Children on the playground speak to each other in Spanish. I believe that many of their classes are conducted in Spanish as well.

The checkout person in the grocery store asks me for my money in Spanish and the woman behind the counter in the bakery asks what I wish to buy in Spanish. Everyone in the store is speaking Spanish except me. It feels like I am in a foreign country except for the fact that I am using dollars instead of Euros. I wish I had Euros since they are more valuable than dollars.

I treated myself to a pedicure in a salon. What do you know, the owners were Vietnamese, but the manicurists were Spanish speaking. In fact, the nice woman who did my nails was deaf, but she could only lip read in Spanish.

Once I had a hospital emergency and was taken to an emergency room where no one spoke English. We had to wait for an interpreter in order to find out what was the problem.

Miami’s population consists of a majority of people who are from Spanish speaking countries. It is convenient and easy to conduct every facet of their lives in their native language. The incentive for anyone to learn English is not there because it is possible to live in Miami for years and never need to use English. Several of my daughter’s friends who emigrated from Spain twenty years ago do not speak or understand English.

The programs designed to teach English as a second language in public schools continue the children‘s education in Spanish and as a result, they come home to Spanish speaking parents and continue using Spanish with their friends and family. The parents don’t have an incentive to learn English because they rely on their children to interpret for them and it is generally more comfortable to continue discourse in Spanish rather than struggle to use English.

I’m not an educator nor do I have experience with speaking a language other than English. I am simply wondering whether it might be a good idea to place more emphasis on learning the English language in public schools. In the olden days everyone who went to school was taught in English and it was sink or swim. Most children who continued in school did learn English and they often brought it home to their families. I knew many families where the parents spoke a foreign language but the children spoke to them in English and in that way, helped the parents learn to speak it themselves.

Now we make a great effort to teach children in their native language and they are able to conduct their lives in a Spanish speaking environment.

Anyone who wants to experience this environment in order to use Spanish ought to make it a point to visit Miami. It is a great place to take a vacation, enjoy the warm weather and the beaches, and use Spanish daily, just like a native. It is possible to go to Spanish restaurants where the waiters speak Spanish and to nightclubs where the entertainment acts are in Spanish.

Spanish is a rich and beautiful language and knowledge of it is important and worthwhile. It is also important to learn English, especially when living in an English speaking country. If I could, I would encourage school systems to emphasize teaching English even if it means that native Spanish speakers may have to attend public schools that do not teach core subjects in Spanish. In this way students may have a better chance of integrating into the larger society and still retain their native tongue. This would be a win win situation for everyone.

In the meantime, I enjoy the illusion that I am in a foreign country when I visit Miami.